The hawks would have wanted him to go to GWS to get the best compensatory pick possible. They wouldn't have offered more than GWS.

The Hawks have felt he was gone since July, I'm sure they've got replacements lined up

9 year deal . 10 mil . What the actual Fuck . Surely the swans are laughing at the AFL . Surely Andrew has to put a stop to that ,

It's 7m over 5 years, not 10m over 9. They're not going to sign a player until he's 36.

Robbo has been tweeting that its 9 and various players have said 9 . Various rival club officials also said 9 . Ox and Marko had Jeff Kennett on and even he was shocked at the 9 yr deal

9years.

Seriously the last player to get a long deal was one alastair lynch , the AFL changed the rules during that one . It makes a mockery of the whole 9 % that Sydney get ,when they don't use it to keep players

That's strange, because The Australian, The Age, The Herald Sun, The ABC, Channel 10, The Roar, Yahoo Sports, news.com.au and Perth Now all report it as a 5 year deal.

Well its apparently 9 . If robbo is right then the AFL have to ask hard questions on themselves

Ugh. The thing that really gripes me about this, is that sure, Sydney possibly do deserve (well maybe not deserve, but I understand the reasoning) these concessions. Rugby heartland, all that. It's definitely harder for them to make money than it is most of the Melbourne based clubs.

What really shits me, is that we don't get the same. We have no living allowances in our cap. So while Sydney are off spending millions on players like Franklin, we're dealing with heaps of young talent wnating to leave because we can't offer them the same sort of money that the Melbourne clubs can.

They'd probably find it easier to make money if they weren't spending more than all the other clubs. Just throwing it out there.

Agree . The extra 9 % that Sydney get was alright when they were starting out in Sydney , now that 9% should be gone .They are an established team, won two premierships and have a passionate fan base . The cost of living argument doesn't wash any more

Why can't Brisbane match the spending power of the Melbourne clubs? That wasn't an issue when they were winning premierships, why is it now?

Well we did have the cost of living concessions around that time. Also, we had our fan base cut by the introduction of the suns.

Why can't they match the Melbourne club spending power though? You can't blame the Gold Coast cutting into your 'fan base', they've had a 25 year head start on the Suns. And comparatively Brisbane is one team in a city of 2.2 million, Melbourne has 9 teams fighting for territory in a city of 4.2m. Their only other real immediate competition is the Broncos, they should be able to match Melbourne teams easily.

Of course the suns are going to impact our fan base. You turn an are from a 1 team zone, to a 2 team zone, of course the original side is going to lose some fans. Add to this general fan animosity towards the board around the same time (Changing the Lion, selling off Melbourne Games, etc) and it's no surprise memberships, and thus finances have fallen over the past few years.

Add on to this losing the Location Allowance in 06, we're now dealing with the same salary cap as other clubs, but with less finances to offer them bonuses and things that may fall outside of the cap, and constantly having to battle homsickness, which forces us to spend more on contracts than Melbourne Clubs would (This again comes back to GCS, since they've been given first option on QLD youth). This is the majority of the reason we struggle to match other clubs, because we're forced to deal with a major factor in player contracts, that they don't have to deal with.

I have no doubt if Melbourne clubs were forced to recruit 70-80% of their player base from interstate, they'd have the same problems.

Last year BRisbane drafted 1 from SA, 1 from WA, 1 from Ireland and 2 from Vic.

But given that there was just one nominee from Queensland in the combine perhaps your rage should be directed at the developmental level for not producing the talent instead of at the AFL for not giving you privileges?

So again, that would be the CLUB's fault, not the AFL's. So again, why should the AFL extend Brisbane a privilege for their own mismanagement?

Interesting news today, with Adam Simpson being named as the new West Coast coach. Can't imagine he was the first choice there.

Also reports that North Melbourne are in negotiation with Nick Dal Santo. That could be a huge deal.

Couldn't believe my ears when I heard Sydney are allowed to spend more. Ridiculous.

Think I heard 900k.

Edited by iridium1010: 4/10/2013 05:51:31 PM

I'm calling Salary Cap rort.

The Zagreb Hawks win their first ever premiership in the
Savez Australskog Nogometa Hrvatske

http://www.sanh.hr/

This is the AFL thread. Not the SANH thread.

Surely we can discuss the game at all levels, especially during the off-season.

Well if it was of any more relevance than the colour of Eddie McGuire's socks then yeah, maybe. But it isn't.

AFL jumper sales - ranked by club by % of total sales
Data provided by AFL.com.au, %...

1. Essendon 10.71
2. Hawthorn 10.70
3. West Coast 8.60
4. Carlton 8.09
5. Collingwood 7.62
6. Richmond 7.04
7. Adelaide 6.52
8. Fremantle 6.47
9. Geelong 5.81
10. Sydney 5.43
11. St Kilda 4.75
12. GWS 3.61
13. Port Adelaide 3.51
14. Brisbane 2.89
15. North Melbourne 2.58
16. Gold Coast 2.27
17. Western Bulldogs 1.99
18. Melbourne 1.40

Sounds like a fantastic achievement

Prince Charles will be the patron of AFL Europe for the next two years:
http://www.afleurope.org/prince-of-wales-becomes-patron-of-afl-europe/

Participation across 21 member nations has now grown to 5,000.

Are you broken?
I find this more and more appropriate for your posts as of late
[youtube]5hfYJsQAhl0[/youtube]

What the hell is wrong with you?

kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk rsrsrsrsrsrsr huashuashuashuashuashuashuashuashuashaushuashuashuashu

Actual 2013 Crowd Differences
Source: stats.rleague.com
incl the 2nd biggest league in the land for comparative purposes

Season:
NRL - 192 Games - 3,060,531 total - 15,940 ave - Down 2.9%
AFL - 198 Games - 6,368,346 total - 32,163 ave - Up 2.1%

Finals:
NRL - 9 games - 284,717 total - 31,635 ave - Down 14.6%
AFL - 9 games - 558,534 total - 62,004 ave - Up 3.3%